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Psalms 10:1

1 [a]Why, LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

Psalms 10:1 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
1 Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
English Standard Version (ESV)
1 Why, O LORD, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
New Living Translation (NLT)
1 O LORD, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I am in trouble?
The Message Bible (MSG)
1 God, are you avoiding me? Where are you when I need you?
American Standard Version (ASV)
1 Why standest thou afar off, O Jehovah? Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
1 Why are you so distant, LORD? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
1 Lord, why do You stand so far away? Why do You hide in times of trouble?
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
1 Lord, why are you so far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

Psalms 10:1 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 10:1

Why standest thou afar off, O Lord?
&c.] This psalm begins with a complaint which proceeds on two general heads; the one is with respect to God, his distance from his people, and desertion of them in times of trouble, in this verse; and the other is with respect to the wicked in some following ones. God by his infinite essence and power is everywhere, and is never far off from any of his creatures; and though his glorious presence is in heaven, which, with respect to us on earth, is a land afar off, yet this hinders not but that there is often great nearness between God and his people; and when he stands afar off from them in their apprehensions, it is when he withdraws his gracious presence from them, and defers help and assistance to them, and does not immediately and directly come and visit them: this they cannot bear, they complain; they wonder that, seeing they are the objects of his love, this should be his manner of conduct towards them; they expostulate with him, and inquire for what end and upon what account he should so use them, and most earnestly desire that he would haste and come unto them and help them; see ( Psalms 22:1 Psalms 22:11 Psalms 22:18 ) ;

[why] hidest thou [thyself] in times of trouble?
when God seems to take no notice of his people, does not look upon them, but turns a deaf ear to them, he is said to hide his face, his eyes and ears, from them: and this is sometimes the case of the best of saints, as it has been of Job, David, Heman, and others; and though this is done in a sovereign way by God, who comes and goes when he pleases; for sensible communion with him as much depends upon his sovereign pleasure as the gift of his grace itself does; yet, generally speaking, the denial or withdrawing of his gracious presence is by way of resentment for some disagreeable conduct and behaviour of his people; and is consistent with his everlasting and unchangeable love to them, but is what fills them with grief and sorrow; nor can they: forbear making mournful complaints upon it; and this is aggravated when it is a time of trouble with them, either of soul trouble, by reason of the prevalence of unbelief, and the force of Satan's temptations; or of bodily affliction; though times of trouble here seem to design times of persecution, as may be concluded from the connection of these words with the following; and antichristian times are times of persecution: during the reign of antichrist, in which he is suffered to make war with the saints and overcome them; and during the church's being in the wilderness the space of one thousand two hundred and sixty days or years, God may seem to stand at a distance, and to hide himself from her.

Psalms 10:1 In-Context

1 Why, LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises.
3 He boasts about the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.
4 In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
5 His ways are always prosperous; your laws are rejected by him; he sneers at all his enemies.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Psalms 22:1,11; Psalms 35:22; Psalms 38:21; Psalms 71:12
  • 2. Psalms 13:1

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Psalms 9 and 10 may originally have been a single acrostic poem in which alternating lines began with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the Septuagint they constitute one psalm.
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